Sweet Spot by Stella Rhys
5
LUKAS
“Julian saidyou do most of your business with professional athletes?” the brunette in my lap twirled her ponytail as she sipped a vodka soda.
I nodded as I worked on my third Scotch of the night. I may or may not have started drinking early with Emmett before meeting Julian for cigars at The Pike on Park Ave. After several rounds, the plan had been to come back here to catch the game before dinner but the second we opened the front door, the girl on the first floor popped her head right out. Rachel or Rochelle – one of those two. After introducing herself, she introduced the six or seven friends she had over for a girl’s night out. And just like that, girl’s night out became a girl’s night in my apartment because Emmett decided to open his dumb mouth and invite everyone over.
“Not most of my business,” I answered the question vaguely. “But some.”
“Wow.” Ponytail ran my hand up and down her thighs. “You must make millions off of them.”
“They’re good clients to have,” I said. It was the least revealing answer possible but it still drew another few girls to the couch like flies to honey. Straddling the armrest now was a leggy redhead who casually grabbed my free hand and dropped it into her lap.
“I heard you hang out with the New York Empires. That’s so cool – I love baseball,” she purred as across the room, Emmett grinned at me, toasting his lowball of whiskey at my two handfuls of thigh. Combined with the buzz of Scotch and cigars, it helped. It didn’t erase the memory of Lia’s big eyes on my cock, but at least it was something – especially since she’d been avoiding me like the goddamn plague since that day.
“Do you work out with them or something? I mean it looks like you do.”
My answers were on autopilot now, my tongue easily fielding the flirty questions till I spotted Julian coming back into the apartment. I was still talking when I flashed him a death look. We’d both agreed to entertain the girls for Emmett’s newly single sake, but Julian had taken the coward’s way out by disappearing for forty minutes. So as payback, I announced his arrival to the girls on the couch, prompting them to burst into a round of applause as he angled his way back to us.
“Welcome back, Julian!” they chorused in uniform baby voices. He visibly cringed, never having been great at faking interest where he had none. I snorted as he proceeded to ignore his cooing admirers and take a seat on the table across from me, wearing a full grin that suited Emmett much more than it did him.
“What’s going on?” I asked suspiciously. “Where the hell did you go?”
“You’ll thank me in a second,” he muttered before turning to the girls. “Give us a minute,” he said briskly. As they pouted and left, he caught a beer lobbed over from Emmett then turned back to me with the stoic expression I was more used to from him. “What’s your neighbor’s name again?”
“You tell me. Rochelle or Racquel. Could even be Rachel.”
“Not that one. The one you keep talking about,” Julian said as he opened his beer. I groaned.
“Fuck. Lia.”
“Right.” Julian leaned forward on his knees and took a swig from the bottle. “Fun fact: she hasn’t had sex in three years and she’s planning on fucking some sad sack to get you out of her head.”
My brows lifted then pulled tight as I stared at him for what felt like a full minute. “What the fuck are you talking about?” I finally asked.
“I heard her and a friend downstairs at the coffee place. There’s a coffee place across from your apartment with surprisingly decent espresso.”
“I don’t need a review of the espresso right now, asshole, I need details on what the hell you just dropped on me.” A sudden sense of urgency rattled my bones. “When is she meeting this guy? She’s about to go home with him now?”
“Easy.” Julian pulled me back down. “I don’t think so but you also better not go Cam on him. You’ve known this girl one day. Try to wait till you’re dating before you break any arms for her.”
“That’s not going to happen. I just don’t appreciate when others reap the benefits of my work.”
“Shit. What did Cam do now?” Emmett asked upon joining us.
“We’re actually not talking about him,” Julian replied with amusement. “We’re talking about some guy who gets to claim Lukas’s prize. He got the neighbor all worked up and now she’s trying to forget him by having mediocre sex with someone else.”
“Oh, shit.” Emmett faced me with a look of gravity more befitting of an emergency room. “So you got her pussy wet and some other dude gets to fuck it?”
“That’s an extra charming way of putting it but yes, apparently.”
“Well, shit, that’s not fair. Go find her,” Emmett implored. I turned to Julian.
“She was still at the café when you left?”
“Yes.”
“Then hold down the fort while I’m gone,” I said, getting up and handing Emmett my drink. Two fingers of Scotch and he shot it like vodka. I had to stare at him as Julian handed me my keys.
“Bring her friend back if you can,” he said, already back to work emails on his phone. “She looked better from the back than any of the girls here look now.”
“I’ll try,” I said. “You piece of shit,” I added as I headed for the door. Since I spotted Ponytail and Redhead on my way, I whispered for them to Google Julian Hoult and waited around till I could witness them bursting into shrieks over the fact that he’d just bought the New York Empires. I swung the door open just as the stampede of heels clattered over to him, grinning from ear to ear with a feeling of petty justice.
And right as I ambled out into the hall, I saw Lia coming up the stairs.
My smile faltered only because I wasn’t prepared for what she was wearing – a casual black dress that went down to her ankles. Thin straps to show off those gorgeous shoulders and an even thinner belt to cinch that waist. Topping it all off was her hair piled loosely at the top of her head, a couple strands falling down to frame her face. I couldn’t stop staring even when she caught my eye.
“Why are you already shaking your head at me?” I laughed.
“Variety of reasons,” Lia said slowly, a hint of suspicion in her voice as she walked toward with me with her arms crossed and eyes narrowed.
“Care to share?”
“Well, we can start with the extremely loud party you’re having right now.”
I glanced at my door then back at her. “Right. I figured I’d made the worst possible impression on you already. Might as well go all in.”
She almost laughed but bit it back. “Seriously, Lukas, what’s going on in there?” she asked, stopping two feet from me. I eyed the distance between us.
“Well, I came in around eight with two friends, and Rochelle from downstairs ambushed me with about six or seven of hers. Emmett took it upon himself to invite them up, so apologies on his behalf.”
“I see.” Lia studied me. I grinned because I knew she was trying to figure out if I knew – if the guy she’d spotted at the café was in fact my friend, and if he did in fact tell me everything he heard her say. But instead of confessing that, I let her play detective. She was too fucking adorable biting that lip and squinting at me, somehow pissed off, embarrassed and playful at once. “And this friend Emmett… what does he look like?”
“Why? Interested?” I teased.
“Maybe. Just answer my question.”
“Alright.” I blew air out of my mouth as I thought about it. I’d known Emmett nearly ten years, but I could probably name the Empires twenty-five-man roster faster than I could physically describe him. “I don’t know. He’s my height. Same dark hair as me. His eyes are brown or blue. I think? I think they’re brown. I’m not totally sure.”
“Alright, don’t hurt yourself,” Lia snorted, making me grin. “You mentioned another friend though,” she said, shy again as she chewed the corner of her mouth. “What does he look like? Did he by chance leave your apartment at some point tonight?”
Fuck.
I meant to play this out longer but I couldn’t help the smile I broke right into.
“Oh my God, he told you!” Lia immediately groaned, burying her face in her hands.
“Alright, hey.” I laughed as I went over and tried to pull her hands off of her face. “Lia. It’s not a big deal.”
“Yes, it is a big deal.”
“Why?” I guided her to lean on the wall. I took a second to adjust when she finally dropped her hands from her face because Jesus Christ, she was gorgeous. There was a glow to her cheeks and her bright eyes were even brighter all big and wet. For how hard the woman got me, she definitely knew how to soften my mostly black heart. “Come on, Lia. What are you even upset about?”
“Are you serious?” Her voice was small but commanding. “Just say it back to me, Lukas. Tell me everything you heard, exactly as you heard it.”
“I heard that you were downstairs with a friend. As far as dating goes, you haven’t been with anyone in awhile and you were talking about… changing that. To get your mind off of me.”
“Oh, so now you’re the one speaking in euphemisms?” she rolled her eyes.
I smirked at the return of her attitude. “Fine – you haven’t fucked anyone in three years, Lia, and your plan is to fuck someone else so you don’t give into your temptation to fuck me. And if we’re being blunt here, that kind of fucking pisses me off.”
A spark lit her eyes. “Oh really. Why? You think I owe you sex just because you saw me half-naked the first day we met? Because you forced me to think about sex because all you could talk about was sex?”
“Did I force you to stare at my cock the other day?”
Her jaw dropped. “Fine.” I stepped back with a laugh when I realized she’d pushed me. “I looked. I was curious. And interested. So what?” she huffed. “I still reserve the right to sleep with whoever else I want.”
“No.” I stepped forward. “That’s not how it’s going to work.”
“Shut up! Are you really going to be that person who’s known me a week and tries to tell me who I’m allowed to fuck?”
“No, I’m going to be that person who fucks you and gives you what you need because you know you don’t actually want anyone else,” I muttered, walking into her despite her hands pushing my chest. “You’re attracted to me, aren’t you? You haven’t been this attracted to anyone in awhile. I woke up your need to fuck, so if you’re planning on fucking someone, why isn’t it the person you actually want?” I removed her hands from my chest and held them at her sides. “Why go for your second choice when your first wants you just as bad?”
“’Cause I don’t trust you!” she hissed, undaunted by my face barely inches from hers. “Or any man like you, for that matter. I mean look at you! I barely know you and I already know that you have frequent threesomes, you fuck employees and you have friends who bring all-girl parties home at night. So why not fuck you? One, because to be honest, I don’t think I can handle you. Two, I don’t think I want to try and three, you’re going to forget me anyway – probably in two seconds, when you walk back into your apartment and twenty girls trip over themselves to give you anything you want.”
“There could be four of them begging ass naked to be fucked and I wouldn’t be as hard as I get from just looking at you,” I said, close enough now that I could feel her chest grazing me with her every breath she took in. I watched her peer down, mouth parted and breathless as she watched her own tits press against me. I groaned, so turned on I hardly knew how to handle myself. “Just let me fucking kiss you,” I finally muttered.
She breathed out. “Fine.”
Grasping her hips, I slammed my lips over hers, thrusting my tongue in her mouth and tasting every corner as she yanked me closer by the belt. I groaned as her body pulsed between my chest and the wall, grinding hard against my cock. The sound of her short, frenzied breaths was driving me halfway insane. I could hear her desperation and I could imagine just how wet her pussy was for me as I nipped under her jaw now, licking down her neck till I was cupping her ribs in my hands and bringing her tits to my mouth. I sucked her nipple over her dress, feeling my cock swell against her thigh as she finally let out a moan.
“Stop,” Lia gasped suddenly, jerking away. There was a half-second of apology in her eyes as she blinked in shock at me but before I could say a word, she was rushing into her door, slamming it fast behind her.
